Other area light displays
Michelle and Kevin McAllorum have set up thier extensive light display for the third straight year. They have 30,000 lights and 160 channels of computer-controlled animation. They have been working on the display for eight months, and are collecting for Make-A-Wish Foundation. Tune your radio to 93-5-FM to hear the music. Their home is located at 7945 Gooseneck Place in the Sterling on the Lake Subdivision off Spout Springs Road in Flowery Branch.
770-912-0859 for directions
E-mail the Life department at life@gainesvilletimes.com and tell us where you've seen a good light display.
After putting on a display of thousands of lights at his home last year, James Boggs hopped on the Internet to tweak his display.
He got some ideas from videos of other Christmas light displays, he said, which inspired him to create this year's 12,000-light extravaganza in his grandmother's front yard, including setting up a transmitter that broadcasts Christmas music from the house.
Passengers who pass the display on Poplar Springs Road, across from Poplar Springs Baptist Church can tune their radios to 93.5-FM and watch as the lights blink in time to the music. In all, it's a 20-minute show Boggs has choreographed with his computer.
"I'm into computers and I'm going to school for networking, so I do a lot of computer work and everything," said Boggs, 21, who is finishing up a degree at Lanier Technical College. "And I also like to do a bunch of electrical work and just a bunch of electrical stuff."
Boggs' display is one of several in the area that incorporates thousands of lights. On Ga. 9 south of Dahlonega, three separate homes have elaborate displays. While you can't see one home right next to the other, the front yards full of animated characters become bright spots at night along the country road.
"We have about an acre and a half that we've got in the yard the front yard, and two ponds. We've got them decorated where the lights reflect in the water," said Syble Brown, whose home with husband J.D. Brown is exactly five miles south of Dahlonega.
"We've got lights in the bridge and the arch, we've got deer, Santa Clauses and a lot of biblical things."
"We've not been doing it but about five years," she said, adding that because her husband is an electrician, the couple has been able to set up electrical boxes and properly wire everything across the yard.
They start setting up in October and flip the switch on Thanksgiving.
Other neighbors on Ga. 9 have about the same amount of lights, Brown said, but put them in a smaller area.
"One's my husband's brother and he has similar decorations and he offers hot chocolate and marshmallows, and people will stop there," she said. "And the one going on to Dahlonega, he's been doing it for several years."
At Boggs' home on Poplar Springs Road, the crowds have been so big that volunteers at Poplar Springs Baptist Church have started offering hot chocolate, too, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, Boggs said.
For Boggs, the Christmas light project was one he could master with his computer, learning his new skills. Brown said her display is just something she and her husband want to do.
"We enjoy it," she said. "We just wanted to give this back to the community."